Family
by LaylaBinx
Summary: This was their family now, their little rag-tag group that had come together by fate and chance." Just a little look at the characters as they progress in their journey :D No pairings, just fluff.


**God help me, I wrote a Zombieland fan fic O.o I can't help it, this movie rocked!! Just wanted to try my hand at it :D Hope you all like it!!**

**I own nothing!!**

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It had been six weeks since Pacific Playland, six weeks since they had all settled on traveling together. There was no more talk of splitting up, of going on separate paths, after all, none of them had no place to return to. They really didn't know where they were driving to either, just a long stretch of open road in between the zombie-filled cities and nameless towns that littered the highways. After they'd left the amusement park, they spent about two weeks driving around the rest of California, collecting weapons, tools, and anything else that would aid in their survival. One of the other great things about Zombieland, you never had to worry about paying for anything, there was no one left to care.

When Little Rock turned thirteen, Tallahassee had taken her into a jewelry store in a larger city just north of Sacramento and let her pick one thing from the broken counters. Wichita had told him about her little sister's fascination with the costume jewelry they'd used in their cons and he took it from there. Out of all the glittering jewels and diamonds in the store, Little Rock found a sterling silver locket and carefully looped it over her head, gazing down at the shining silver as it hung against her dirty clothes.

Tallahassee was surprised; he had been convinced the little girl would go crazy in the deserted jewelry store. Hell, his ex-wife used to get stir crazy when the commercials would come on the TV. They hadn't stayed married long enough for him to ever have to worry about indulging that fantasy of hers. He's bought the engagement and wedding rings out of obligation when he found out she was pregnant with Buck. After he was born, she just up and disappeared one day, leaving him with a one month old infant and a job that barely paid enough for the both of them. It had been hard raising Buck alone but it was even harder losing him. That alone was what nearly did him in.

It was only after they'd been together for a while did they start opening up about their families. Columbus was always the open one, encouraging them to talk about a past they would sooner forget. He told them about his neurotic family and all their phobias, how they were borderline agoraphobic and would only leave the house on certain occasions. Even though he tried to play it off, there was still the faint hope that maybe they were still alive since they, like him, avoided people like they were zombies even before they were zombies.

Tallahassee gave the skeletal details of his brief marriage and kind of left it at that, any questions were met with one or two word answers followed by an impressive string of curses. His ex-wife was old news, someone he wanted to forget about as soon as possible.

Little Rock talked a lot about her time with Wichita; it was clear she didn't remember much about her parents. Wichita remained impassive and silent on the subject for most of it, offering a few randoms comments here and there to appease Columbus who would look to her occasionally. It was a pretty dead conversation as far as she was concerned. Columbus let it slide; there was no point forcing anyone to talk about anything. The last thing the needed in this zombie-infested world was to have a falling out because of dredged up bad memories.

Later that night, after Tallahassee and Little Rock had fallen asleep in the backseat, Wichita returned to the earlier conversation. She began speaking quietly, almost to herself, and Columbus sat up a little straighter to listen to her. Apparently, her parents were in and out her entire life, between the drugs and alcohol they were constantly in trouble with the police. When Little Rock was born, her mother went into rehab which lasted a grand total of two months before everything fell back to the way it was. Their father became more violent, their mother more and more trashed out with each passing day, and finally Wichita couldn't take it anymore. She took Little Rock when she was about two and they left, never looking back. They had been on their own since.

It was tough to talk about and ever tougher to listen to. Columbus wished he had something to say to make it better but he didn't. In fact, the only thing he could think to say would have made it worse so he kept it to himself. She gave him a half-smile and told him not to worry about it, there was nothing that could have been done. It didn't make him feel any better.

They stopped in Carson City the next day, knowing they all needed some decent sleep and frankly, no one wanted to drive anymore. They found an abandoned house in the middle of the city and decided to make camp for a few days. There was a partially eaten leg in the doorway but no one even flinched at the sight of it; another thing about Zombieland, you eventually become comfortably desensitized to the horror around you.

The spent the rest of the day barricading the doors, boarding up the windows and all the usual routines that went along with staying in a new house in a zombie infested world. They slept in shifts, one guarding the door at all times and listening for any movement through out the house. A few of the lights still worked and, ironically enough, the television but it was nothing but static. Still, there was a DVD collection and enough food to give them the break they needed for a few days.

Little Rock had begun busying herself with scissors and paper and various other crafts objects she could find left in the house. Wichita asked what she was doing but her sister would always give some half-assed answer and continue on her way. She wouldn't reveal her project to Columbus or Tallahassee either (something which damn near drove the older man up the wall).

After about three days in the house, they reloaded the car and pulled away, taking care to hit the zombie mailman that raced toward them. With his body slamming into the front of the car and bouncing off the wind shield, they drove off toward the edge of town.

Little Rock leaned over the seat after a few minutes and dropped something into Wichita's hand. It was the locket, still shining brilliantly in the mid-day sunlight. Wichita quirked an eyebrow and opened it, smiling warmly as she did. Inside was a small collage of driver's license photos that she had managed to steal from Wichita, Columbus, and Tallahassee. There was an old school ID picture of her as well, placed in the middle and glued to the rest. This was their family now, their little rag-tag group that had come together by fate and chance. Wichita smiled and passed it to the other two, watching as they took in the project the youngest had been toiling over. Somehow, that tiny locket had become the link that tethered them all together.

Zombieland was a place where there were no homes, there were no more familiar faces or warm greetings, but it wasn't a place without family.

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**So what do you think? Good? Bad? Let me know!! :D**


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